The Forum will be opened by Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General, UNCTAD and Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General, WTO. Professor Michael Lipton of Sussex University, and Ms. Ruth Rawling of Cargill, will outline the central themes for subsequent panel sessions to address. Ms. Dhano Sookoo of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago will set out what Farmers’ Organizations can do to promote commodity development and reduce poverty.
Professor Michael Lipton, Sussex University
Title of Presentation: Commodities development and poverty reduction - Staples production and staples trade: efficiency of 'subsistence' smallholders as the key to poverty reduction, trade and development
Michael Lipton spent most of his career at Sussex University, starting as one of seven teacher-researchers in its first year. He was Reader, then Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies.
He has received various Prizes including the Webb Medley Economics Prize, Oxford (1959) and the Dudley Seers Memorial Prize (with Robert Eastwood, 2001).
He is a member of Council of the Overseas Development Institute, London, and of the advisory panel of International Development Enterprises, the leading NGO advancing market-linked micro-irrigation for smallholders.
He is a past member of Governing Body of the Institute of Development Studies, and a past president of the British Association for South Asian Studies.
Ms. Ruth Rawling, Cargill
Title of Presentation: Commodities development and economic growth [TBC]
Ruth Rawling was appointed Vice President of Public Affairs for Cargill Europe in 1997 and the role has become Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
In this capacity Ruth leads the team dealing with government relations, external policy issues, corporate responsibility and internal and external corporate communications in EMEA and is part of the Global Leadership team of Corporate Affairs in Cargill. Past memberships: Chair of the Food and Feed Committee in the Praesidium of Coceral; European association representing grain and feed merchants.
Prior to joining Cargill she held various posts in the Ministry of Agriculture in London before being appointed to Sir Leon Brittan's cabinet when he was made European Commissioner and then taking up the post of First Secretary Agriculture at the UK Representation to the European Communities.
Ruth is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
Ms. Dhano Sookoo, Agricultural Society, Trinidad and Tobago
Title of Presentation: Role of farmers' organizations in promoting commodity development and poverty reduction
Mrs. Dhano Sookoo holds the esteemed office of President of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago for the last five years by a democratic elections process.
She also serves on the Trinidad and Tobago Transport Board and on the Board of the Estate Management Business Development Company Limited the only female among eleven gentlemen on the Board of the EMBD.
Some of her notable achievements include: Pioneering the development of the Export of Fresh Agricultural Produce to Barbados for Trinidad and Tobago farmers, exporting the largest amount of cargo from Trinidad and Tobago using D.H.L Airways.
In the last 5 years, she moved the membership of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago from less than four hundred (400) to over six thousand (6000) individual members and sixty eight (68) affiliate bodies bringing the farmers under one platform as one single voice.
